The 886 appears to be a much more capable piece of equipment than some of the lower end meters like the Peak ESR70 and LCR40, but I didn't see anywhere in the manual or on BK's product page where they mention that the 886 can be used with the component still installed in a functioning (though presumably powered off... ) circuit, which the ESR70 can be. So I dunno. I'm really kinda tempted to buy all three; the Atlas stuff would be a lot more convenient, but then I'd also have something with a wider test range and greater accuracy for when I need it.

The 830 seems to be the cheapest capacitance meter on the market that'll measure to 200,000µF, which would be useful to me; I haven't seen one (at least under $600 or so) that'll measure to 1F or more. Does anyone know of one that will?

Well, I ended up ordering a number of the Peak meters and a B&K 830. I think the 886 is too expensive for the use I'll get out of it for right now. I think the Peak gear will end up being very useful for power supply testing, though; the B&K is more for binning caps than anything else.

I'm not sure waht your price range is. Just saw this but the Mastech MS5308 is a great meter at around the $200 price point. Other than it has a HUGE issue with the power adapter it ships with (aftermarket adapters work fine and it works fine on batteries). Mastech has just become aware of the power supply issue and is looking in to it.